TQM in Construction Management A Review

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)
Volume 6 Issue 7, November-December 2022 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD52445 | Volume – 6 | Issue – 7 | November-December 2022 Page 822
TQM in Construction Management: A Review
Prof. Aditi Sonawane1
, Pooja Pramod Ghule2
, Disha Atul Paresh2
1
Professor, MITCOM, Project & Construction Management Department,
2
M Tech Student, MITCOM, Project & Construction Management Department,
1,2
MIT College of Management, MIT Art, Design and Technology University, Pune, Maharashtra, India
ABSTRACT
With the advent of present policies of liberalization, Privatization and
globalization the economic scenario has completely transformed in
last one and half decade. By way of the continuous inflow of
Multinationals and trend towards Global bidding, our construction
companies have to face tough competition within the country as well
as outside the country to win the contracts. They have to be
competitive in terms of cost, time (Schedule) and Quality of a
construction project to be ahead in the bidding run. If we study the
total construction process for a particular project right from inception
of the idea to start up and finally execution and making it open for
use, at each and every phase quality management is required to get an
end product which is possessing total quality thus having zero defect
from the point of view of customer. To stand today in the competition
what construction firms must strive today is not only for customer
satisfaction but also for customer delight one step ahead of customer
satisfaction. Total Quality Management is a beliefs which can bring
about revolutionary change in construction Industry by completion of
construction projects with trouble free structures and longer life and
thus help in becoming global. In this seminar report an attempt is
made to understand TQM in a detailed way and implement it in an
appropriate way in future.
KEYWORDS: TQM, Construction, Six Sigma, etc
How to cite this paper: Prof. Aditi
Sonawane | Pooja Pramod Ghule | Disha
Atul Paresh "TQM in Construction
Management: A Review" Published in
International
Journal of Trend in
Scientific Research
and Development
(ijtsrd), ISSN:
2456-6470,
Volume-6 | Issue-7,
December 2022,
pp.822-827, URL:
www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd52445.pdf
Copyright © 2022 by author (s) and
International Journal of Trend in
Scientific Research and Development
Journal. This is an
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Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
INTRODUCTION
Small A key to achieving success is assembling a
stable and strong management team. Quality is never
by chance; it is the outcome of intelligent efforts that
have to manage. The essence of quality management
is to apply the knowledge and make it productive to
achieve the desired quality. A theory of Total Quality
Management (TQM) is necessary for the modern
construction era as quality has become a parameter
we evaluate or evaluate by others. Numerous
questions like what is it, how it is measured, how it is
controlled, how to improve it, etc. must be answered
to get the required quality. Quality management is
often the complete process that answers all such
questions.
Construction projects involve various functions
across different segments and activities. Yet, the one
thing they all offer is their longing to deliver quality
work on schedule and within the financial plan.
Quality management is the foundation for
construction projects and plays a significant role in
defining whether the project is a success or a failure.
Every construction company desires to deliver quality
work, as it has become the company's judging criteria
and plays a vital role in building its reputation.
Quality management in Construction involves putting
the policies, processes, and procedures to improve the
approach and methods to deliver the aimed quality
and match the required standards, for any company,
establishing the internal and external principles and
the guidelines results in quality.
A. Total Quality Management in Construction
The concept of Total Quality Management (TQM)
aims to improve the organization's ability to achieve
quality and deliver the desired output to the client on
a continuously improving basis. There are a few
differences between the traditional and total quality
management systems.
a. TQM is process-oriented rather than the result-
oriented traditional approach.
IJTSRD52445

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
b. TQM prioritizes quality, flexibility, and services
rather than the cost.
c. TQM involves a more horizontal organizational
structure than the traditional vertical management
system.
d. TQM presumes that profits follow the qualityand
not vice-versa.
e. A portion of the advantages derived from TQM
include; a decrease in quality costs, more
significant levels of representative and customer
fulfilment, less remedial work, fewer deferrals,
and closer associations with subcontractors and
vendors.
Time, Cost and Quality
Time cost and quality are three important factors in
planning and controlling construction projects.
Getting these factors in balance, which minimizes the
project duration, the total project cost, and maximizes
the total quality, could define the success of a
construction project. Aside from planning and
estimating the project properly, a consideration of
uncertainty while implementing the project is needed
to represent a more realistic outcome for time, cost,
and quality trade-off (TCQT) problem in construction
projects. A quality performance is being considered in
recent contracts in addition to time and cost factors.
Usually, the use of low-technology methods and
inexpensive resources lengthens project duration.
Applying new technologies and productive resources
may reduce project time, but at increased project cost.
Construction project quality may decrease as project
time or cost is reduced. As a result, the deterioration
and aging of relevant construction projects that
involve bridges, tunnels, and highways, for example,
may occur faster than expected and the cost of
maintaining, rehabilitating, or rebuilding the system
may be higher than expected. Therefore, construction
planners often balance three contradictive objectives
including project time, cost, and quality in practical
project.
Getting the time, cost, and quality of the construction
project in balance then becomes a significant criterion
to judge whether the project is successful or not.
Repetitive construction project is dominant in the
construction industry. A repetitive construction
project is a project whose activities are repeated in
similar or identical units.
Fig. 1: Time, Quality and Cost
LITERATURE REVIEW
P. Mohan Anjani Kumar et. al. (2021) studied an
empirical case study and approach on TQM in a
stipulated construction firm. In comparison to other
sectors such as manufacturing and service, the
construction sector is perceived to impose a low value
on performance. TQM is implemented by very few
construction companies in this world, and the top-
down technique is widely used. To incorporate TQM
in a company, top management must contribute to a
"bottom-up" strategy by creating a "Quality Circle."
According to this study, the first and most important
criteria for introducing TQM in construction firms is
top management involvement, other obstacles that
companies must overcome include a lack of
education, lack of confidence, lack of common trust,
a lack of skilled staff, market competition, weak
strategies and requirements, bad behavior, the
availability of experienced field managers, and so on.
In this approach, one case study is analyzed to show
how Total Quality Management (TQM) is efficiently
applied by using a "bottom-up" approach and creating
a PMO in an Indian construction company. After
some study of the Pareto graph, and identifying root
causes using Root Cause analysis, experience is
applied in the provided studied construction firm to
apply TQM. Following that, a method for applying
TQM in a building company is suggested. [1]
Manjunathgouda. M. Patil et. al. (2017) studied
assessment of maturity level of total quality
management in construction industry. The purpose of
this paper is to study the implementation of Total
Quality Management (TQM), its and degree of
awareness of TQM in Indian construction industry.
This paper fills the gap in the literature by studying
the implementation of TQM in construction industry.
The implementation of TQM in construction industry
is complex as it is different from other sectors. The
implementation is at development level and mostly
restricted to corporate firms. TQM is generally
believed of some significance rather than great
importance to the construction organizations. Hence

to establish that there is need to change this
understanding of Proprietors (clients), Project
Managers, Engineers, Government bodies, this topic
is chosen. An attempt is made to study the adoption
of quality management practices in Indian
construction industries and the maturitylevel of TQM
in construction projects. To know the desired
information a standard questionnaire is prepared after
consulting experts and reviewing literatures. A survey
has been conducted amongst all class of contractors
and government bodies in different capacities and
about 75 samples are collected. The analysis made
gave clear picture of status of implementation of
TQM in construction industry and the level of TQM
literacy. More than 48% responses indicated that their
companies have implemented a formal quality
management system, and about 51% of engineer‟s
indication of not knowing TQM principles needs to
be addressed through structured awareness programs
covering state agencies. It is observed that, the
training covered for laborers is below average and
needs to be increased as this component is most
crucial in producing quality product. About 50% of
the engineers suggested that construction industry is a
rather unorganized sector in India and by
implementing TQM the industry will become better
organized. [2]
N. Y. Zainun et. al. (2017) studied An Overview of
Total Quality Management (TQM) practice in
Construction Sector. In construction sector TQM can
be termed as a philosophy which guides construction
professionals on the proper execution of construction
projects in terms of quality. The aim of this paper is
to discuss on quality management practice in
construction sector. This paper evaluated five
previous researches and the findings were discussed
to find a conclusion of TQM practice in construction
sector. The study found that TQM had been
successfully practice in construction sector at Saudi
Arabia, India, US and South Africa. Application of
Artificial Neural Network (ANN) helps to improve
the implementation of TQM in construction sector. In
conclusion, quality management practices will give
better control of processes in construction sector. [3]
Fatemeh Nouban et. al. (2017) overviewed on the
total quality management in construction
management. Total quality management (TQM) is a
management idea, broadly applied to the construction
and the service sectors. It can enhance the quality in
the areas in question. Some studies attempted to shine
the light of this idea to construction management.
Nevertheless, construction management is yet to
accept the concept of TQM. Construction corporates
have constantly been pushed back and forth between
the implementation of the concept and following the
traditional management methods. Since its early
beginning, the construction industry has revoked
change. Unfortunately, TQM principles are yet to be
applied to the entity of construction sectors. There are
many contractors that have succeeded in
implementing TQM in their corporate. Their number
decreases at the practical approach of their suppliers
and subcontractors. The aim of this paper is to
pinpoint the latest studies made on the elements that
affect the implementation of the principles of TQM in
the ground field of construction management. [4]
Shreyas Gowda C. H. et. al. (2015) studied total
quality management in construction. The primary
purpose of TQM is to provide excellence in customer
satisfaction through continuous improvements of
products and processes by the total involvement and
dedication of each individual who is in anyway a part
of that product/process. It is a structured approach to
improvement. If correctly applied, it will assist a
construction company in improving its performance.
Unfortunately the Construction industry has lagged
behind other industries in implementing TQM. The
main reason for that has been the perception that
TQM is for manufacturing only. One aspect of TQM
that has frustrated the construction industry the most
has been “measurement”. The main aim of this work
was to produce a measurement model - with tools and
methodologies for the recognition and measurement
of construction processes for continuous
improvement and client satisfaction. Analysis of
questionnaire survey indicates that the major obstacle
to implement a TQM program is changing the
behaviour and attitude, lack of expertise/resources in
TQM, lack of employee commitment/understanding,
lack of education and training to drive the
improvement process. The Client Satisfaction Index,
the Cause and Effect Diagram and the Improvement
Index were developed to find out the major sources of
client satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the
construction industry. The outcomes of this survey
show that customer satisfaction can be greatly raised
by improving construction underestimation, project
management, coordination, pattern changes by clients
and change orders from procurement department. For
the local construction industry, this project has the
potential to demonstrate tangible benefits of using
TQM in their organizations. [5]
Sharma Pankaj et. al. (2013) point outs that, though
the concept of TQM originated few decades ago but it
has not been implemented in every industrial sector.
Most of the small scale industries especially in
developing countries consider investments required in
TQM implementation as a burden and thus try to

avoid it. They instead go for ISO certifications which
generally look effective on paper. Until and unless
organizations don’t focus on basic principles given by
the concept of TQM like involvement of top level
management, creation of suitable working culture,
proper training and empowerment of employee etc.
no new concept/technique can do wonders for quality
improvement. The implementation of TQM in
construction industry is complex as the construction
industry is different from other sectors.
Construction industry is distinctive in its operations
like:
Mobility of staff.
Diversity in the types, forms, and shapes of
construction projects.
Geographical location.
Contractual relationships.
Change in work force.
Variation in materials properties and standards.
Change in machineries.
Plants and equipment’s for different projects. [6]
James Harrington et. al. (2012) focused on quality
assurance and quality control and its application
during project implementation, while TQM is a
strategic philosophy adopted by an organization and
implemented on a continuous basis, even if the
organization is waiting to carry out a new project.
Many models developed for the implementation of
TQM in construction industry were reviewed and
opined that these models are only guidelines as it is
difficult to devise a universal “cookbook” for TQM
implementation. It is also pointed out that TQM gives
a great amount of flexibility for developing solutions
and each organization must develop its own structure
and each manager should develop his mind set of
quality management system and the solutions which
are not directly transferable from one organization to
another. It is concluded that implementing TQM is
one of the most challenging tasks for any organization
and successful TQM implementation requires a
systematic, pragmatic, and well-structured approach.
[7]
Ahmed S. Agha (2012) states that, the construction
industry has arrived late to TQM is that the
construction professionals unaware of the TQM
principles and techniques. To bring these benefits to
the construction industry, more efforts must be made
to spread the culture of TQM among the construction
professionals and TQM courses must be in the
engineering under graduated programs. [8]
Abu Hassan Bin Abu Bakar et. al. (2011) aimed to
identify aimed to identify the level of effectiveness of
the implementation of TQM principles by the
construction contractors in the Sultanate of Oman in
the top grade construction company as per classified
by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Oman.
Important factors were taken into account relating to
the internal customers (the staff) of these companies.
A quantitative research approach was adopted in this
study, where the questionnaires were distributed to
114 top staff of excellent and one grade contractors to
identify the level of quality practices in their
organizations and ascertain that they follow the rules
of total quality management or not. For analyzing
purpose, chi square test, frequencies and response rate
are used in this paper. They found that these
companies generally take into account the principles
of total quality management. [9]
Kazemi (2011) investigated the implementation of
TQM within small and medium size construction
enterprises (SMEs). It presented information about
the current practice in the construction industry,
critical success factors for implementing TQM,
primary barriers to the implementation process, and a
general proposed framework for TQM
implementation in construction related organizations.
He indicated that TQM is generally believed to be of
certain significance rather than great importance to
the construction organizations and there is need to
change view point of owners, project managers,
engineers and government bodies in implementing
TQM. [10]
SinaAvsar et. al. (2006) pointed out how
construction professionals implement TQM and its
tools in their projects in the different stages (design
and construction) from the results and conclusions
from case study of „the construction of a 22-km2
reclamation area in New Doha international airport
(NDIA) it’s clear that TQM is not a fad and how
much benefits that TQM can bring to your
construction business (improve business quality,
increase customer satisfaction, reduce cost, save time
and much more). [11]
Enno Ed et. al. (2003) stressed about QES (Quality
Environment and Safety) management systems
concerned with actions that can create an
organizational setting in which workers can be trained
and motivated to perform safe, healthy, and
productive construction work which satisfies
customer needs. They indicated that the process is a
plan-do-check-action (PDCA) process which is
nothing but a part of TQM. [12]

Pheng et. al. (2004) indicated that the problems that
construction firms may face during the
implementation phase of TQM include managers
failing to understand the TQM concept and
philosophy, contractors being more inclined towards
profit, initial costs of implementing TQM being
perceived to be high though these are offset in the
long run. Also TQM may not be so feasible for small
firms, employees within the organization may be
resistant to change, which will render TQM education
and awareness more difficult. He opined that, in spite
of these problems, TQM embraces the philosophy,
principles, procedures, and practices necessary for
providing customer satisfaction as well as achieving
productivity and business performance in the
construction industry. [13]
Ngowi (1997) conducted a survey that targeted both
management and an artisan category to know the
impact of TQM application. It covered 100
construction companies in Botswana. Two sets of
interviews, one for managerial staff and the other for
artisans were conducted. The questions were based on
the key features of TQM. The survey results indicated
that, in general the adopting the key features of TQM
often are at variance with the national culture. It does
not mean that, the latter should change in order to be
consistent with the former. The essential thing is to
create the awareness of this inconsistency and to
develop a tool that can find out the items that should
be addressed so that conflicts can be minimized. [14]
Deffenbaugh (1993) opined that major challenge in
implementing TQM in the construction industry is
applying its principles on the jobsite. [15]
Faihan et. al. (1992) studied the relationship between
total quality management practices and contractors
Competitiveness Purpose was to ascertain correlation
among TQ management tradition as well as
contractors competitiveness. He Examined the
correlations among diverse total quality management
traditions with competitiveness. [16]
Jha and Chockalingam predicted the quality
performance using artificial neural network, with
evidence from Indian construction project. The
purpose was to allow construction project team
members to comprehnd the factors that must closely
observe complete projects with an anticipated quality
and to predict quality performance of a project. He
Investigated answers and conclusions, and factors
including, project manager’s competence, observing
and response of project participant, good direction
between project participant and availability of taught
resources significantly affects quality performance
criterion. [17]
Erande and Pimplikar TQM in Indian construction
industry. The purpose of the study was to find out
whether weather TQM is transforming customer
needs into proper technical requirements for each
stage of process development. Study is conducted in
quest of finding solutions for TQM implementation in
construction industry. [18]
Harrington et. al. Applying total TQM to the
construction industry Purpose explained quality and
output problems with progress opportunities sighted
in construction industry. It concludes to show lack of
good research to improve approaches in construction
work as an undesirable profession, also determines a
slow change from quality control (QC) to total quality
management (TQM). [19]
Joubert et. al. The implementation of total quality
management system profit South African construction
companies. Purpose was to explore reasons for poor
quality South African construction industry and if
implementation of a TQM system will improve the
situation. Workers in South Africa construction
industry do not have adequate training to deliver the
anticipated results. [20]
Acknowledgment
We would like to place on record our deep sense of
gratitude to Prof. Aditi Sonawane for her generous
guidance, help and useful suggestions. We express
our sincere gratitude to Prof. Aditi Sonawane for her
stimulating guidance, continuous encouragement and
supervision throughout the course of present work
and also for providing us infrastructural facilities to
work in, without which this work would not have
been possible. We also wish to extend our thanks to
all the staff members of MITCOM and MIT ADT
University for their insightful comments and
constructive suggestions to improve the qualityof this
work.
References
[1] Prof. Manjunathgouda. M.Patil, Prof. Supriya.
D. Kulkarni, “Assessment of Maturity Level of
Total Quality Management in Construction
Industry”, International Journal of Latest
Engineering and Management Research
(IJLEMR), Volume 02 - Issue 02, pp. 36-45,
February 2017.
[2] P. Mohan Anjani Kumar, Ashwin Raut, “An
Empirical Case Study and Approach on TQM
in a Stipulated Construction Firm”,
International Conference on Advances in Civil
Engineering (ICACE 2021), IOP Conf. Series:
Materials Science and Engineering, 2021.

[3] A J Likita, N Y Zainun, I Abdul Rahman, A S
M Abdul Awal, A R, Alias, M Q Abdul
Rahman and F E Mohamed Ghazali, “An
Overview of Total Quality Management (TQM)
practice in Construction Sector”, IConCEES
2017 IOP Publishing IOP Conf. Series: Earth
and Environmental Science 140, 2018.
[4] Fatemeh Nouban, Mohammad Abazid, “An
Overview of the Total Quality Management in
Construction Management”, Academic
Research International, Volume 8(4), pp. 68-74,
December 2017.
[5] David Arditi and H Murat Gunaydin, “Total
Quality Management in the Construction
Process”, International Journal of Project
Management, Volume 15, No. 4, pp. 235-243,
1997.

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